Feisty and indefatigable, Phil Sheridan was suspended from West Point for angrily chasing a fellow cadet with a fixed bayonet. He did graduate, however (1853), and served alongthe Rio Grande and in the Northwest before becoming quartermaster and commissary of Union troops in southwest Missouri at the beginning of the Civil War.

Happier in his next assignment—colonel of the Second Michigan Cavalry—Sheridan embarked on years of aggressive campaigning that earned him the respect of his peers and the confidence of his men, who affectionately dubbed him "Little Phil."

In actions from Perryville, Kentucky, to Chickamauga and to the magnificent charge that carried Missionary Ridge, Sheridan proved such a supremely effective fighter that Grant gave him command of all the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac.

Placed in command of the Army of the Shenandoah in 1864, Sheridan pursued and defeated Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley—and angered resident civilians by destroying anything that could be of use to Confederate forces. He ended the war in hot pursuit of Lee's retreating army.

{"type":"article","show_header_text":false,"header":"ARTICLES ABOUT PHILIP HENRY SHERIDAN","query":"((des = \"Civil War (US) (1861-65)\" or des=\"UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (19TH CENTURY)\" or des=\"CIVIL WAR (THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES)\" or des=\"CIVIL WAR (US) (1861-65)\" or org=\"CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA\") and (body=\"Philip Henry Sheridan\" or body=\"Philip H. Sheridan\" or body=\"Gen. Sheridan\")) or per=\"Sheridan, Philip Henry\"\n\n","search_query":"((subject:\"Civil War \\(US\\) \\(1861-65\\)\" OR subject:\"UNDERGROUND RAILROAD \\(19TH CENTURY\\)\" OR subject:\"CIVIL WAR \\(THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES\\)\" OR subject:\"CIVIL WAR \\(US\\) \\(1861-65\\)\" OR organizations:\"CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA\") AND (body:\"Philip Henry Sheridan\" OR body:\"Philip H. Sheridan\" OR body:\"Gen. Sheridan\")) OR persons:\"Sheridan, Philip Henry\"","num_search_articles":"15","show_summary":true,"show_byline":true,"show_pub_date":true,"hide_thumbnails":false,"show_kicker":false,"show_title":false,"show_related_topics":true,"show_rad_links":true,"show_subtopics":true,"exclude_topics":"SHERIDAN, PHILIP H","more_on_header":"MORE ON PHILIP HENRY SHERIDAN AND:","alternate_index_subidx":"all.main","show_thumbnails":true}

AS wars go, the Civil War was long in the nation's past and presumably mostly forgotten. Even the centennial of the war, in the 1960's, failed to attract much attention, perhaps because the country was absorbed in a newer war, in Vietnam. Then, in...